Catching Up

Tonight marked the first night in over 48 hours where I had an actual conversation with someone in person. Sometimes internet phone and chat just doesn’t do enough for me. What makes it better, is that it was a couple of guys who I hadn’t seen since I was in New Zealand in June and July of 2008. Keirohn and Zane are two guys who I helped out at a youth group when I was here last and have since graduated. One’s in Bible College now and the other is a manager at a Subway restaurant, both are about 19 I think. It was so good to catch up with them tonight. We shared stories of what’s going in each others’ lives and shared too many laughs to count, which is how I prefer it. They thanked me for the Bibles I had brought them in 2008 as they said they had been very helpful. I had completely forgotten about it so it was nice to know that I was able to bless them with something they still use to this day. My church at the time had bought those Bibles and some sports equipment so it was neat to see how my old church had blessed me with resources who then passed those resources on. A pretty neat example of how God’s economy can work sometimes. It was such a blessing to see them and catch up. It had been months since I’d seen someone I actually knew before so this really refreshed my soul.

How often do we take time to catch up with people? Not just hang out, but truly get to know what’s happening in each others’ lives? Are we just too busy to deal with other people on any more than a superficial level? In the states we value busyness and productivity while at the same time 25% of us will experience depression at least once in our lives. Maybe if we took more time to get to know one another instead of advancing our careers we wouldn’t get depressed as often. Was it Thoreau that said something along the lines of how many men lead lives of quiet desperation? Everyone needs some type of community, whether that is in your small group or at the local pub. We were made to share life with people. I thank God regularly for living in a digital age that allows me to easily keep in contact with many friends from back home. It is such a blessing to keep up with my friends’ lives while I’m on the road. It’s also cool to share photos of where I’ve been on this trip and see their comments. At the same time, technology can actually lead to a disconnect. How many people still get offended when someone answers their cell phone when you’re in the middle of a conversation with them? At first I’d get really offended but now I’ve come to accept it as a new part of our culture. It seems to be a rather rude new part, but you have to adapt to things like this. How many people I wonder spend nights at home on the internet instead of out with friends? I know this is often the case for me. Of course, if I had it my way I’d still hang out with everyone every night like I did in college. Things change though, people get married and now all of a sudden you’re expected to plan in advance. This is something that has always been a struggle for me, whether it’s for work of for making social plans. Of course, I can do it a week in advance when on a round the world trip but somehow I view that as different. Not sure exactly why that is. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take that ability with me when I head home for social contacts and especially for work.